The immune system's guard against cancer
The human body has developed various mechanisms, through which it can protect itself against newly-developing cancer cells. For instance, killer-cells recognise and destroy altered cells in our organs every day. Once tumours have developed, they may be inhibited in growth by messenger substances from the immune system. Scientists from the research group 'Molecular Immunology' at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig have now succeeded to reveal a completely unexpected function of such an immunological messenger substance in the suppression of tumours; i.e., the molecule 'beta-interferon' inhibits the tumour in its attempts to connect into the human blood circulatory system. Moreover, it hinders the production of growth factors that support the formation of new blood vessels...